Sunday, November 04, 2012

Last week I
wrote about poet and fiction writer, Xánath Caraza, a transnational U.S. Midwest Indigena
Mexicana.

Xánath Caraza

There is more to say
this week about Xánath—especially if you are in Los Angeles! On Saturday,
November 10 (yes--in Los Angeles) you have the opportunity to learn from
Xánath.She will be giving a
poetry workshop from 12:30-3:30p.m. atTia Chucha’s Centro Cultural bookstore. Here is her description of the workshop:

In this poetry
workshop, we will examine and discuss selected works of Sor Juana Inés de la
Cruz, Macuilxochitzin, and Yanga.We will write our own poems and we will end the session with an informal
poetry reading where we will share what we have created.

After the poetry
workshop, take a break, a tomar un cafecito—and then come back to TiaChucha’s Centro Cultural bookstore at
5:00p.m. to hear Xánath read from CONJURO.

What a great way
to spend next Saturday at Tia Chucha’s.

When: Saturday, November 10, 2012

What: Writing Workshop led by Xánath Caraza

Where: Tia Chuca's Centro Cultural Bookstore

Time: 12:30-3:30p.m.

What: Xánath Caraza reading from her book, Conjuro

When: (same day)

Time: 5p.m.

Where: Tia Chuca's Centro Cultural Bookstore

This past week,
Xánath was at The Writer’s Place in Kansas City, Missouri (where Xánath
lives).It was a Dia de los
Muertos celebration and reading.One of Xánath’s poems, “Luz de Octubre,” became art on the wall (see
below).Orale Xánath.

Lakota Tribe member, Myron Longsoldier
gave the Invocation. Frank LaMere, from the Winnebago Tribe, gave the
keynote.LaMere is a human rights
activist who has had extensive involvement with empowerment efforts of native
people throughout the United States.He was named Peacemaker of the Year by the Nebraskans for Peace
organization for his work to end the sale of alcohol in Whiteclay.He chaired the Native American Caucus
at the 2000 and 2004 Democratic Conventions. In 2008, the documentary, “The Battle for Whiteclay” followed LaMere, Russell Means, and Duane Martin Sr. in
their efforts to curtail alcohol consumption on the Pine Ridge
Reservation.If you haven’t seen
“The Battle for Whiteclay" I encourage you to see it! And since it is still near the time of Dia
de los Muertos—see it in honor of Russell Means who recently passed away on
October 22nd.

Last night Frank
LaMere spoke with emotion and directed his comments to all of us:“Indian, Brown, Black, White”—that it
is important to see the devastation happening at Pine Ridge as a problem that
affects every one of us.In an
opinion piece for the New York Times, LaMere wrote:“Any action short of shutting down Whiteclay and crippling
the enterprise that peddles alcohol among the Lakota people is unacceptable.The death toll exacted on the Lakota
people by Anheuser-Busch and its partners continues to rise . . .
Lakota children are orphaned and struggle through life with the effects of
fetal alcohol syndrome.”

Frank LaMere in "The Battle for White Clay"

In the book, Days
of Destruction, Days of Revoltby Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco (published this past June), they write:“Whiteclay is an extension of the long
night of ethnic cleansing, degradation, and murder stretching back more than a
century and a half, to the U.S. Cavalry charges on Indian encampments, where
screaming women and children were shot down as they fled, and the systematic
eradication of food sources by the white colonizers, who soon reduced bands of
ragged Indians to destitution.Fights,
brawls, and shootings eventually shut down the bars and saloons of
Whiteclay.All sales are now
carryout.But Whiteclay still
provides the liquid fuel for car wrecks, diabetes, heart attacks, domestic abuse,
divorces, joblessness, violence, early deaths, and suicides: one in five Indian
girls and one in eight boys attempts suicide by the end of high school.The averale male life expectancy on
Pine Ridge is forty-eight, the lowest in the Western Hemisphere outside of
Haiti” (4).

Frank LaMere giving the keynote at the NAACP Banquet

LaMere’s
powerful words at the NAACP in Lincoln, Nebraska last night prompted me to
write you about it, dear La Bloga reader, especially as we near election day
this coming Tuesday.“Your Power,
Your Decision:VOTE” was the timely
theme.There is much at stake—and
you are a part of the circle just as much as I am and Frank LaMere is.
Participate! VOTE!